1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for manufacturing electronic devices and is particularly applicable to the manufacture of a field effect transistor from diamond material, and the transistors formed by the method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Field effect transistors (FETs) have been manufactured which comprise a generally conventional FET structure formed on a substrate of diamond, instead of a silicon substrate. The physical properties of diamond result in it having superior characteristics to silicon (Si), gallium arsenide (GaAs) or other known semi-conductive materials in this application. In particular, diamond FETs can be expected to have a lower on resistance, and a higher gain and maximum frequency than transistors employing conventional materials.
Field effect transitors are conventionally formed with the aid of photolithographic masking and chemical etching processes, whereby the source, gate and drain areas of the transistor are demarcated photolithographically, using photo-resist materials, and various mask layers deposited on the substrate of the transistor are selectively removed by etching to define the source, gate and drain regions, as well as metallic contacts for those regions. Due to the small size of the transistor structure, it is difficult to align successive masks during the fabrication process. The tolerances of conventional technology thus set a lower limit on the size of the transistor structure, which thereby places a limit on certain of the transistor operating parameters, such as its high frequency limit.